Finally I had some success with my new 45-70 at the range:
I made a series of loads with Trail Boss trying to get the most accurate one.
Bullets: Montana Bullets 300 gr (mould RCBS (82051)) with gas check, sized to 0.458"
Powder: Trail Boss
Cases: Unknown (marked with two little stars separated by a curved line)
Best load: 16 grains of Trail Boss
Best group at 100 yrds: 2 inches
Velocity: Not measured (yet).
Two inches at 100 yrds is not that bad, and it is equal in precision to the factory loads from Remington with a 300 gr hollow point.
My next step is going to be to use 16.0 and 16.5 gr of Trail Boss and the same bullet, but the bullet sized to 0.459".
I have to add, that I installed a scope to be able to develop the loads. Once I figure out the best recipe for my rifle, I'm going back to a peep sight.
By the way, while using the hammer extension, I was getting repeated failures to ignite. As soon as I took it off, there were no more problems. Anybody experienced this before?